PALA: Tribe's support helps keep charter school open

$140,000 donation, other assistance for Vivian Banks

PALA -- Bonsall educators last week praised the Pala band of
Mission Indians for the tribe's support of a small charter school
at the reservation, which during the 2008-09 school year included a
new track and $140,000 donation to the school district.

As part of the Bonsall Union School District, Vivian Banks
Charter is the only public school on the reservation, which is home
to around 1,600 people, as well as the recently expanded Pala
Casino.

On Friday, principal Bill Rash said the charter school faced the
possibility of closing earlier this year before the tribe stepped
in and helped cover key expenses.

Then, during the school's fifth grade promotion earlier this
month, tribal chairman Robert Smith presented the school with a
$140,000 check.

"In this time of budget cuts, that's a tremendous courtesy to
us, and it is allowing us to continue next year," Rash said. "They
have been incredibly supportive financially, and in every other
way."

Run out of a single-story, whitewashed building owned by the
Catholic Diocese of San Diego, Vivian Banks has 130 students from
kindergarten through fifth grade.

Pala students in grades six and up are transported off the
reservation to Sullivan Middle School and Fallbrook High School,
officials said.

Smith said the recent donation was approved by the tribal
council and represented the wishes of tribe members to retain a
school on the reservation.

"It's right here in the community, where we can have more
interaction with the parents and we can get involved with
back-to-school nights," Smith said. "I had two kids of my own go
through it, and their grades have improved. I think the quality of
education there is really high."

Students at Vivian Banks scored a collective 714 on recent
Academic Performance Index exams, the lowest score of the Bonsall
district's schools, but not far off the goal of 800 that state
officials have set for schools.

The charter school also met all the requirements under the
"Adequate Yearly Progress" analysis outlined in the No Child Left
Behind Act during 2008, the most recent year for which records are
available.

On Friday, Smith recalled attending school in his childhood at
the same facility where Vivian Banks now operates.

He said he graduated from the eighth grade in 1975, when the
school was operated by Catholic nuns.

"My aunts went there before me, so it's been around a long
time," said Smith.

In the end, the donation was aimed at providing for the children
of the Pala tribe, he said: "We just thought it was the right thing
to do, and the right time to step up for the kids and their
education."

Bonsall school district superintendent Justin Cunningham said
Thursday that, in addition to the one-time donation, the tribe also
helped cover an increase in rent from the Catholic diocese -- from
$1,000 to $3,000 a month.

"This is the worst time you could ask for something like that;
there's absolutely no way we could pay it," said Cunningham. "The
tribe came in and covered the difference."